LAPD killed a Washington, DC, teacher

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     January 13, 2023 On January 3, Los Angeles police officers killed 31-year-old Keenan Anderson, a Washington DC teacher, who went into cardiac arrest after being repeatedly tased by police responding to a traffic accident. Newly released body camera footage [shows]( LAPD officers restraining and tasing Anderson, who can be heard begging for help. At one point in the violent encounter, Anderson, the cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, is heard saying, "They're trying to George Floyd me." Anderson's death has once again reignited calls to [defund]( the LAPD, whose spending has long been under scrutiny. The department [spends tens of millions annually on helicopters](, creating among the largest helicopter fleets of any local law enforcement agency in the world, despite little evidence of their effectiveness. According to one recent [report](, the LAPD's $1.8 billion in local funding last year was 29 times higher than the city's housing budget. And local activists are demanding change. Check out my colleague [Madison Pauly's recent tribute to]( a billboard campaign that bravely called attention to the department's funding data. Since the death of George Floyd in 2020, many have called on police funds to be reallocated to social programs, such as housing and public transportation. But in the years since, [conservatives have hit back with crime panic;]( defunding quickly became a dirty word for Democrats. More from Madison: By this fall, the word “defund” had become politically radioactive, according to a [Vox analysis](of polling data, though significant majorities of US adults still supported the policy changes most activists mean when they talk about defunding the police. Poll respondents were broadly in favor of diverting some police funding to education, anti-poverty measures, and housing, as well as routing some 911 calls away from the cops. But pollsters who used the word “defund” when asking voters about such policies found that support plummeted. I'm not sure where the conversation goes from here—and I'm not exactly optimistic. But Keenan Anderson's death demands accountability. —Arianna Coghill Advertisement [Oxford University Press - Williams]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Trump Organization Fined $1.6 Million in Criminal Tax Fraud Case]( The judge gave the former president's businesses the maximum sentence. BY RUSS CHOMA [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( [Trending] [Amazon loses bid: The NLRB just upheld the historic Staten Island union win]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG   [Another Santos money mystery: He struck a curious business deal with a veteran GOP operative]( BY NOAH LANARD AND DAVID CORN   [England will ban single-use cutlery and plates]( BY NICOLA DAVIS   [What the Lesbian Best Friend trope leaves out]( BY EMMA COPLEY EISENBERG Advertisement [Oxford University Press - Williams]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [Hero of 2022: Those LA Police Funding Billboards]( The audacity to run on police overfunding during a crime panic. BY MADISON PAULY Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755